Anniversary Cruise - Regal Princess Western Caribbean

Once again we celebrated our anniversary with a Caribbean cruise! Why not? We live in Central Florida so it's accessible, easy, and can be quite the value. This is our third time on the Regal and it's really a beautiful ship.

More Carribean Cruise

Our third, and last, stop was St. Maarten in the Virgin Islands. The island is half Dutch, half French.

There were 5 cruise ships at the port while we were there.

Always the bird watcher. King bird.

The homes, especially in the older part of town, were very colorful.

More cemeteries!

The photo doesn't represent the colors of the Caribbean very well because it was raining off and on.

I was shocked to see desert like foliage. We also saw these huge orange iguanas but I didn't get a photo.

This is the point where the island changes from Dutch to French. o travel issues - it's all the Eurozone.

Seems almost everywhere we go there is a fort. Ft. St Louis on the French side.

The waterfront, French side, taken from the Marina - you can see the fort up on the hill.

There was a straw market set up down by the waterfront but they were packing up when we got there. Weather perhaps? I saw this central area with a gazebo, arena seating and a painted compass.

Photo of the bay from the marina area.

The last two days were spent at sea and included our anniversary (Jan 15th). We woke up to find our door decorated.

My hubby got me roses and a card and the cruise folks gave us a card as well.

I ordered a special balcony breakfast for us. It included a hot meal of bacon, quiche (best I have ever had), baked tomato, and veggie strips.

It also included coffee, juice, and champagne as well as a plate of smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, and bagels.

And finally, the pastry plate. It we could have ordered it for one, which you can't, it would have been enough for both of us.

Our view as we ate our special breakfast. We had another day of spa services as well.

Our Silver Anniversary

This photo was taken 25 years ago today at the Cocoa Palms hotel in Kauai. W0w - 25 years.....time really does fly when you are having fun.

We lived in Chugiak Alaska at the time, then moved to the Native village of Aniak for a couple years, then Kodiak for 11 years. In 2001 we moved to Florida where we now reside. We went from working for retailers in Alaska to both becoming government workers (with a couple jobs in between). We still have furry critters in our house, some things never change, and still have on-going house projects.

We are planning a vacation to New Orleans next month - couldn't rely on Jerry's schedule this time of year because there was a good chance he would have an inventory in the middle of our anniversary vacation. So, we coiencided our trip with Mardi Gras, sorta. Should be memorable both both of us - Jerry's first time in NOLA and for me a homecoming after 40+ years.

How Time Flies

Back when I looked like this:

I was crazy about my Aunt Joyce and Kunkle Bob (mom's sister & hubby):

I hear tell that when I was really little he came over to take her on their very first date and he sat on the couch beside her and I slapped his leg away from her and scooted in between them.
Apparently after they left for their date I cried and cried so my mom and dad drove me around in the car to get me to fall asleep. After that night, I went on all Aunt Joyce's and Kunkle Bob's dates with them :)

How time flies! A few months ago they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. And, they have a daughter named Vickie! We spent the night with them last night and I scanned the three photos in this post. Aunt Joyce was nice enough to help me by doing the fingernail-breaking job of getting photos out of frames they have been in for forty years! LOL

We are going to be heading back to Florida today from Memphis. First we will stop at Aunt Joyce's busines in West Memphis to say our goodbyes (they left for work and cattle feeding already) and then we will return out fancy rental car (Mercedes C300, more about that later) before settling in at the airport and eating a Memphis BBQ lunch.

Although this was a short trip, and I have lots to report, it feels longer and longer everytime I leave home now. Can't wait to see Jerry and my doggies. Also can't wait to get into some warmer weather. It's been in the twenties and I don't even own a winter coat anymore :)

Happy Anniversary

Twenty three years ago today we were married in Kauai, Hawaii.

22 Years!!

Twenty two years ago today Jerry and I were married on the beautiful island of Kauaii. Here's one of our wedding photos from that perfect day.

I sent Jerry one of those edible arrangments today. It went to his work so I wasn't able to get a photo before Jerry and the rest of the crew enjoyed it. This is a photo from the web site - same thing just different container. I've always liked these but have never had one. The half dipped chocolate strawberry was particuarly yummy. Below is a photo of 22 carved in pineapple.

When I got home from work mom had left us a cake, a bottle of dessert wine, and a flower arrangment. Great cake - whipped creamed frosting and 4 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate mousse between!

LOL, here is what was left of our anniversary dinner. We have a busy night scheduled because my cousin Diane and her husband Dan are coming tomorrow for the weekend so I brought home Thai food. A little out of the ordinary for us and not too heavy before doing housecleaning.

First Anniversary.....Well, Sorta

I was all excited to post on December 17th - the one year anniversary of my first blog post. I looked back at my very first post to see what I wrote and saw that is was on December 15th, not 17th. I can't believe I missed my own anniversary! LOL

Fancy Dinner During Tornado Warnings

Last night we went to a fancy steak house in Tampa to celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary. Funny thing, Jerry was out of town on our 10th so we celebrated big (in Hawaii) for our 11th and I was out of town on our 20th so we are celebrating big on our 21st. Anyway, we canceled our standing Saturday night dinner with the Daiseys (mom & MIL) for a special night for the two of us. With Christmas on the 25th, and my birthday on the 28th, by the time our anniversary rolls around on the 15th it's a struggle to think of thoughtful or useful gifts. Instead, we have decided to start a tradition of DOING something special - no money on gadgets, make a memory.

I made reservations at the premier steak house in Tampa (Bern's) and surprized Jerry with a hired car so that we could toast the occassion. Additonally, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival was starting in Tampa and traffic would be scary due to parades and loads of foot traffic on the narrow streets of the Hyde Park area of Tampa. When I contacted the limo service I asked for a car, not a limo. When the driver arrived sharply at 4:15, it was not only a limo but a white stretch limo! About as flashy as it gets. Oh well, apparently they weren't busy so they thought they would send the limo at no additional charge. I just smiled and said "thank you" but could see Jerry would have preferred a Town Car.

As the driver neared the restaurant we were picking up more and more people with children parking and walking. Turns out the Gasparilla Children's Parade was about to start nearby. I grabbed a photo off the internet of the lobby of this restaurant because it would be difficult to describe. Very ornate, kinda gothic, lots of brick, some velvet wallpaper, huge paintings and lighting fixtures. Apparently there is one window in the place but I didn't see it. Most of the walls were brick - Jerry described it as a bomb shelter.

Dinner was superb. They prepared the Ceasar salad at the table, steaks were perfection, and the appetizer was amazing (a Thai version of California roll with lobster and passion fruit). During dinner we heard a noise and our waiter informed us that it was storming outside and that we were under a tornado warning! We were dining in ignorant bliss while the wind and rain cancelled the Gasparilla Parade. We decided that if we were going to be trapped somewhere during a storm, this 5 star restaurant would do just fine!

On the way to the dessert floor (more on that to follow) we were given a tour of the kitchen and the wine cellar. Our tour of the kitchen was narrated by a waiter-in-training (distinguished by white shirts with bow ties, no jacket) and demonstrated a committment to quality which, ironically, is what I am studing in school right now. Everything was made there - they had a bakery for breads and desserts, a salad dressing making station, meats were being cut and trimmed to order. They were growing sprouts in the kitchen for salads, they had huge wheels of cheese aging and most of the veggies they used were grown on their own organic farm in nearby Pasco County.

Next stop on the way to dessert was the wine cellar holding 100,000 bottles. There is a warehouse nearby used to replenish stock for a total holding of about 1 million bottles. The wines were all categorized with storage labels by the dewey decimal system. Luckily I had a shawl because it was 50 degrees and dark. One interesting component was a locked area with rare wines, many over 100 years old.

Eventually we made our way to the dessert room (small photo from web). Each table is an imtimate little island created by curved walls and individual stereos. The menu was enormous because of the dessert wines, ports, cognacs, etc. I've never seen anything quite like it. I ordered German Chocolate Cake which was served with handmade mocha icecream sprinkled with toasted coconut. Jerry ordered Cheesecake Gert which is New York style cheesecake but made with orange zest, garnished with raspberry sauce, and served with handmade raspberry ice cream topped with graham sprinkles.

Eventually we had to leave our little sanctuary and head out into the blowing rain. It was nice not to have to drive the dark, slick streets in an unfamilar area. We had the limo until 9:15 and it was only 7:30 when we left. If the weather had been better we may have gone for a drive or to an area, like ChannelSide, where we could walk off dessert but Jerry was anxious to get home; however, we needed diapers for Chloe so we asked the driver to take us to PetSmart on the way home. How wierd to go to PetSmart in a stretch limo! The driver says he's now gone full circle because his first professional job was picking up a parrot from an elderly person and driving it to a vet!